Barclays Lowers Westlake (NYSE:WLK) Price Target to $135.00

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Barclays from $175.00 to $135.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the specialty chemicals company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 19.98% from the company’s previous close.

WLK has been the subject of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $170.00 to $167.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Westlake in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $168.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Westlake from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Westlake from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Bank of America decreased their target price on shares of Westlake from $134.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Westlake currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.86.

Westlake Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:WLK opened at $112.52 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $113.92 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $128.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.04. Westlake has a one year low of $104.74 and a one year high of $162.64. The company has a market cap of $14.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 158.47, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.17.

Westlake (NYSE:WLK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The specialty chemicals company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.98). Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81%. The company had revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.72 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Westlake will post 6.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Westlake

In other news, Director David Tsung-Hung Chao sold 1,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.08, for a total value of $225,890.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,758.72. This represents a 18.36 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 74.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 247.7% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 226 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 6,316.7% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 385 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 379 shares in the last quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 1,668.2% in the fourth quarter. Transamerica Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 389 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 43.2% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 318 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Westlake by 72.0% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 523 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.40% of the company’s stock.

About Westlake

Westlake Corporation engages in the manufacture and marketing of performance and essential materials, and housing and infrastructure products in the United States, Canada, Germany, China, Mexico, Brazil, France, Italy, Taiwan, and internationally. The company operates through two segments: Performance and Essential Materials and Housing and Infrastructure Products.